Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Greetings you artsy people! (And yes, you just read the word "leporid" for the first and possibly last time today.)

Today I have a medievalish make
for you to help get your creative juices flowing for the Hip 2 B Square challenge (you still have time to enter your square-y projects through
September 4!).

I always like to discuss the creative process with artists,
so I thought I would tell you a little more about the thinking behind my
featured piece--"Le Lièvre" (The Hare)--and how it was made. The FULL
details-- including which famous medieval works inspired me in the design of
this piece—are over on my blog here with more juicy photos and historical eye
candy to get you in the mood. :)Click and read!

But in front of you at this moment is the Cliff Notes
version.

For the "square" theme, I chose this Rabbit Square stamp from Carmen's Veranda. I stamped the Rabbit Square on heavy ivory
watercolor paper, and embossed it with detail gold so it would be WICKED SHINY.
(Yes, I’m from Boston. Don’t judge.)

Then I painted it with water-soluble oil pastels in shades
of green, blue, and gray, keeping the bunny buff-brown and "white."

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Our fabulous team of LCDesigners and Guest Designers are currently sharing daily SQUARE projects through to August 31st and our Linky Party closes at 5 to midnight on September 4th so why not get in on the action for the chance to win a shopping spree at Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda?

Enter your projects that are either square shaped, involve squares in some way or feature our SQUARE shaped rubber stamps...we've got quite a collection of them:

Today I'm sharing the "Leonardo" themed Artist Trading Block (ATB) I made for Day 1 of HIP 2 BE SQUARE!

An Artist Trading Block is an altered or decorated cube and they are traded just like Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Craft stores sell wooden blocks in various sizes or you can make your own out of heavy weight cardstock or cardboard. Sizzix has made life even easier with their ATB dies and you can also get ATB files for cutting machines like the the Cameo, etc.

I started out with a sheet of 8.5 x 11 inch black cardstock and prepared two pieces as shown in my photo below: the left panel measurement is 3.5 inches wide by 10 inches long and the right panel is

4 inches by 9.5 inches. I wanted my ATB to be 3 inches squared so that each of my stamped panels would have a .25 inch black border. I scored the folds with a bone folder, slotted the two pieces together and adhered the flaps with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to form a 6 sided cube.

I then cut out 6 2.75 inch squares from tan cardstock and stamped them all with Onyx Black Versafine ink. Two of them are decorated with the Carmen's Veranda Cracked Face Square stamp. I've had these CV square stamps for many years now and I originally planned to use the Calligraphy Square too but couldn't find it in my stash, well guess what I found yesterday when I wasn't looking for it! PHAH! The rest of my panels were stamped with Lost Coast Designs Cosmos Collage and the Leonardo Accessories Set.

Each panel was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and the backgrounds done with Derwent pastel pencils and blended with a Dove Blender pen. I distressed the edges of each panel with Tim's Paper Distresser tool and applied Tea Dye Distress Ink. I then adhered each panel to the ATB with Quick Dry adhesive and also added the little "Leonardo" text from the Leonardo Accessories set.

I'm really pleased with how my ATB turned out! They're so much fun to make so why don't you give one a go and share with us? Enter your SQUARE projects in our HIP 2 BE SQUARE Linky Party by 5 to midnight on Sept 4th!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Hi everyone! It's my day on the blog and I have a couple of ATCs to share with you. Both of these were created for a swap where we had to use words or quotes we liked. I decided to stick with a monochromatic color scheme for each.

I sprinkled the ATC with Nuance Powder in bright yellow and grass green gave gave it a spritz of water. Keep moving the water around until you like the look you get then blot away excess and dry. Stamp ATC Perspective with Versamark ink and emboss with Lindy's Tennenbaum Green Gold EP. Add your vellum words.

Spray you ATC with Lindy's and a little water to blend and then dry. Stamp ATC Music with Versamark ink and emboss with EP. Stamp Mini Manga Goth Rose onto mixed media paper, clear emboss, and cut out. Paint the image with several colors of Lindy's. Add your words.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

And Hello there fellow crafters !!!! Today I am sharing a card I made with the "Happy Cat".

Just using some patterned paper I punched out three circles using my 2 inch circle punch. The white cardstock in behind with the stamped images - using my markers and coloured him up. (why a him - just looks like a boy - must be that smug look - hehehehe???) Ginger colour cats have always been my fav.

Adding a bit of bling - and the saying says it all - does it not? Cats are famously known for their attitude and this one is no stranger to that ....HaHaHaHa

Before I tell you about my tags I want to let you know about our new event that started today over at Lost Coast Portal to Creativity! Pop on over and join us for HIP 2 BE SQUARE! The LCDesigners have fabulous SQUARE projects to share daily through to the end of August! Stop by for all the fabulous LCDesigenr projects and enter your own Square projects too!

Okay, now for my tags! Both of these started out in the same way. I used standard sized white shipping tags and curved both ends by using a large Spellbinders circle die as a template, traced the curves onto the tags and trimmed with scissors. Then I had fun creating my watercolour backgrounds with Nuance Powders.

On this tag I used Bright Yellow, Grass Green and Jade Nuance powders and sprinkled microscopic specs onto the tag controlling where I wanted each colour to go while at the same time allowing some randomness as well. Remember these powders are vibrant pigment based powders and a tiny spec of the powder packs a powerful punch once mixed with water. I spritzed the tag lightly with water and moved the liquid around by tilting the tag and guiding the flow and then I soaked up the excess liquid with paper towel once I was happy with the result. Once the tag was dry I stamped Backside Womanwithblack Versafine ink and then created the two "spotlight" circles by die cutting out the circles (Spellbinders) from white cardstock and stamping the areas I wanted by laying the circles onto the inked stamp. Traditionally the "spotlight technique" is done with the spotlit area coloured so I like to call what I did "reverse spotlight" coz I kept the circles in black and white and coloured the rest of the stamp instead.

here's a closer look at the details

For this tag I created the watercolour background with 3 shades of blue Nuance Powders: Turquoise, Cerulean Blue and Royal Blue. Serendipity had a hand in this one coz there must have been some specs of pink powder in one of the blues....totally fine by me LOL! I then spritzed with water and manipulated the flow of colour just like I did with the other tag until I was happy with the result. Once the tag was dry I stamped it Balancing Vixen inblack
Versafine ink and created two "spotlight" circles for this one too. I then die cut out the Spellbinders lacy scalloped circle mats from black cardstock and also cut black mats for the tags. Before adhering the stamped panels to the black cardstock pieces I applied metallic gold rub-on cream to them and then adhered everything with Scotch Quick Dry adhesive.

I completed both tags by adding the various fibers which I thread through the shipping tag holes and adhered the "spotlights" in place with pop dots.

a closer look at the details

Did you know that 5 new gorgeous colours have been added to the Nuance powder range?

Wisteria, Rosebud, Mango Tango, Spring Green and Aquamarine...oooolala! These will be up on the Lost Coast Designs website soon but you can order them now via the LCD email if you NEED them ASAP! Click HERE for ordering info!

Please note that the LCD store has been experiencing tech issues since Monday but things are getting back up and running already but if you encounter a link that isn't working please try again in a few hours or so.

I stamped on a piece of paper that had been under a project that I had used Nuance Powders on and even though a little drippy I loved the effect with the Spectrum Noir markers in citrus colors. Some designer paper and ribbon and a neat note card in no time!

That's it from me, Nan, today! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Morning, Nikki here :) and today I am sharing a card I made for the new challenge over at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity, Water color background. I really enjoy this look and it is complimentary to so many images. For my water color effect background I have used nuance powders, which are for sale at Lost Coast Designs.

My card features one of the awesome new zentangle feather stamps, Zentangle Feather 1 from Lost Coast Designs :

The feather was stamped onto white card stock and fussy cut.

I used nuance powders in the background, in green and yellow, then stamped the feather stamp without reinking it, so it gives a light, shadow effect.

I added the twine, buttons and white embellishments and stamped the word 'Believe' from the Misc Words stamp set. I sponged lightly around the card, and the final touch was to matt the decorated card onto a white card base.

I really like this zentangle feather, especially how the traditional black and white zentangle pops off the colored background.

and we are delighted to announce that Marilyn is our new monthly Challenge host! Nikki has done a fab job hosting our monthly challenges for us but she decided it was time to pass on the torch and we know Marilyn is going to do a fab job too!

Our monthly challenges start on the 1st Monday of every month and end on the 25th so come and join the fun! Our challenges are open to all company stamps but if you feature ours...and we sure love it when you do....then your entry counts as TWO during our DT Faves voting and doubles your chances of winning so come and play with us!

Now last but now least....we've got WINNERS WINNERS and more WINNERS over at our Lost Coast Portal to Creativity Blog where we host all our fabulous events and challenges each month!

Not a follower yet? You are so missing out...hurry on over and FOLLOW US or get our posts directly in your email inboxes by subscribing to us so you never miss an event or challenge again!!!

We had fabulous festive entries in our Christmas in July event
and we're so pleased you enjoyed our New Stamp Showcase! We loved reading all your comments letting us know which new stamp was your fave
for the day during our four day event! Thank you everyone for
joining the fun!

Now it's time for our EVENT WINNERS!

The WINNER of our 1st BLOGIVERSARY is

IKE

Congrats Ike! You have won our fab Blog Candy! Enjoy :0)

The WINNER of CHRISTMAS in JULY is

KELLY S

Congrats Kelly!
You have $10 to spend at Lost Coast Designs and or Carmen's Veranda! Happy shopping!

and the WINNERS of our NEW STAMP SHOWCASE$5 LCDesigns/Carmen's Veranda gift certificates are

IONABUNNY

for commenting:
Day 1 - "Oh my, these are so cool. Love all the dt's projects. Love that these
are so cute, all the different poses and that you have the large and
small versions. By a beak, I think my favourite is Flora. Thanks for
sharing. Hugz"
Day 2 - "Gorgeous creations ladies. Really liking the Zentangle square 1 and the
feathers. Would love to own Idinkera. What a great background,
foreground and any ground in between. Love it. Nope, I think Zentangle
square 1 is today's winner for me. Hugz"
Day 3 - "Love the cat in the colourful journal page and the b/w projects. Cat or
Fish, that is the question. I think the cat wins by a whisker. These
animals are so cool. Hugz"
Day 4 - "Tricky descision today, but looking at your lovely pieces it's got to be
winged girl. Love the detail on the wings and her poise. She's
lovely. Hugz"

SUE

for commenting:
Day 1 - "Oh these birds are fabulous, love them all, but if I had to pick it
would be Spike - just something about his face :-) All the DT samples
are brilliant! X"
Day 2 - "These are wonderful samples. I must be the only person in the world that
doesn't normally like zentangles, but these feathers are fab,
especially Feather 2 xx"
Day 3 - "So yesterday I wasn't a zentangle fan, today I'm loving it! It's a close call but the fish is my favourite x"
Day 4 - "Fabulous inspiration again, Winged Girl is my favourite too xx"

ALICE K

for commenting:
Day 1 - "Those birdies are so much fun. I like the 'dotty' ones best, and the
mini size looks like it would work well on ATC-cards and tags. Such
great inspiration pieces, too!"
Day 2 - "Such lovely inspiration! These feathers seem to be the new 'must' - I
adore the multiple ways they can be used. I would love to win :-)"
Day 3 - "Such lovely temptations! That zentangle crow is awesome!"
Day 4 - "I love that Winged Girl! It seems such a versatile stamp - and oh so sweet."

BARBARA

for commenting:
Day 1 - "Cute bird stamps! Ruthie is my favorite from this collection. Thanks so much for the give-away!"
Day 2 - "Wow! I love the zentangle feathers! Very nice.... I like both Feather #1 and #2. Thanks for the give-away!"
Day 3 - "Great designs and inspiration....The zentangle bird is wonderful! Thanks for the give-away!"
Day 4 - "I love the Winged Girl! How nice to have her separated from her shrine!
Great idea. Thanks for the give-away and inspiration!"